Contents

Chelsea career

Early career

Josh has been with Chelsea since the age of seven, having been scouted by Pete Harris whilst playing for a local team called Garden City.

A regular England Under-16 and Under-17 international, he trained with the first team at the age of 15 and had a season of youth football to his name whilst still at school, before moving on into Reserve football before he turned 17.

Already well versed in academy football, Josh was fast-tracked into the reserve squad despite being just sixteen, and as part of an increasingly younger squad under Steve Holland, he has been one of the brightest stars. He’s not always been good, but whilst his body develops, his mind and skills are way beyond his years. An integral part of the club’s FA Youth Cup team, turning in superb performances in the middle of the park, he was handed a first team squad number (51) in January and has trained with Carlo Ancelotti’s first team on occasions. He even travelled with the first team for a League Cup tie away to Blackburn in November, and whilst he was not named in the matchday squad, he was clearly held in very high esteem by the Italian.

During the 2010 summer pre-season, Josh was involved with the first team throughout, making appearances in three out of four matches, against Crystal Palace, Ajax and Eintracht Frankfurt, and was involved in goals against two of the three.

He signed a professional contract on 1 July 2010, and made his competitive first team debut against MŠK Žilina in the opening game of the 2010-11 UEFA Champions League, coming on as a substitute in a 4-1 win. In the process he became the first player to be born after the UEFA Champions League started on 25 November 1992 to take part in the competition.

McEachran made his home debut as a substitute during a League Cup tie against Newcastle United, and made his Premier League debut in the following match; a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City, appearing as a late substitute. McEachran made his first start against MŠK Žilina, in the UEFA Champions League group stage, and went on to start the final match of the group stage against Marseille. McEachran played the full 90 minutes, and showed flashes of his composure and skill on the ball. A start in the FA Cup against Ipswich Town was followed by occasional substitute appearances, before the youngster started the penultimate match of the season, playing for over an hour in the 2-2 draw against Newcastle United before being replaced by Michael Essien. He also appeared as a substitute in the final game of the season; a disappointing loss to Everton.

Having signed a new five-year contract in June McEachran joined up with the first team squad again prior to the 2011-12 season, and was involved in the pre-season tour of Asia, scoring against Aston Villa in the Premier League Asia Trophy Final. Seemingly established as part of the first team set-up, he was an unused substitute for the first few games of the season, and started a League Cup tie against Fulham in which he was unfortunate to be substituted early in the second half after Alex's sending off necessitated a replacement at centre half. He was a late substitute in the next match – a 4-1 win against Swansea City – and would make two more appearances in the League Cup prior to Christmas. With little opportunity to make an impact in the first team, following another late substitute appearance in the New Year against Wolverhampton Wanderers he was loaned to Swansea City for the remainder of the season. The loan move appeared a good one, as the youngster would be playing under former Chelsea reserve coach Brendan Rodgers, but he found chances limited with the more experienced Gylfi Sigurdsson (who had also joined the club on loan in January) preferred in midfield, and made just five appearances for the Swansea first team before returning to Chelsea in the summer.

At the start of the 2012-13 season Josh joined Championship side Middlesbrough on a season-long loan. He played in 38 league matches for the club as they initially mounted a strong promotion challenge before falling away considerably during the second half of the season, ultimately finishing in mid table.

Josh spent pre-season with José Mourinho's] first team squad but an injury suffered in early August prevented him from securing a long-term loan deal, meaning he joined Watford on a 93-day stay in September 2013. His time under Gianfranco Zola wasn't as successful as Nathaniel Chalobah's was a year earlier, with the Hornets suffering as a team, and Zola was sacked in early December whilst Josh was absent from the squad through illness.

His stay at Vicarage Road ended on January 5th and just shy of three weeks later he joined Uwe Rosler's Wigan Athletic until the end of the 2013-14 season. Rosler identified that the young midfielder lacked match fitness and so only tended to give him one game a week at most during his stay, but he did feature at Wembley in an FA Cup Semi Final against Arsenal.

On August 18th 2014 he joined Vitesse Arnhem on loan for the 2014-15 season.

International

Josh has represented England at Under-16, Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21 levels levels, and has captained the Under-16 and Under-17 teams. On 30 May 2010 he was a member of the England side that won the European Under-17 Championships, England coming from a goal down to beat Spain 2-1 in the final. The equaliser came from an inswinging corner from McEachran. He had previously scored in England's opening game of the tournament against the Czech Republic. He was promoted to the Under-21 squad during the 2010-11 season and impressed in his four caps before dropping back down to the Under-19 age group at the end of the season. A regular berth in the Under-21s followed thereafter and he was named in the squad for the European Under-21 Championships in Israel in June 2013, playing in two of England's three group matches.

He is also eligible for Scotland, due to his having Scottish ancestry. [1]